Reassure your clients with a ‘call-ahead’!

Strategies for Success has always been about the ‘just one thing’. (Quick mental flashback to Billy Crystal and Jack Palance in City Slickers!) But then…

Your front line technician’s on-site efficiency is important too!  So I’ve been focusing on making fewer trips out to the truck to maintaining an organized van to no more lost tools and safety equipment! But wait! There’s more…

Too much obsession with ‘efficiency’ can mean forgetting about the on-the-job Moments of Truth (MOT) your tech’s create. For example…

I LOVE this “Immediate Action” strategy! And the “How and Why of Personal Thank You Notes”  is huge too! But now let’s pick on you and/or your office staff!

So how can your office (or you) increase production efficiency AND at the same time create great MOT’s over the phone! Focus on this QuickTIP…

When your technicians are on their way to a client YOUR OFFICE should A) always call ahead, B) give the estimated arrival time AND C) mention the name(s) of the tech(s).

call-your-customers-to-tell-them-that-the-technician-is-on-his-wayYes, I know. Right now your your techs are personally calling their next job to tell the customer they are on the way.

But let me play ‘Devil’s Advocate’ here by examining the down-side of your techs calling instead of your office:

1) Calling while driving is a safety hazard and…

2) Your techs can’t hear while their machinery is running plus…

3) Being on their cell phones while working on the current customer’s job is a HUGE negative MOT! Then add to this…

4) Calling their next customer inevitably is going to affect your employee’s production efficiency! (You knew I’d get back to profitability!) And finally…

5) I wanted my office staff to stay in contact with our front line workers and know how our tech’s day was going! (A few ‘attaboys’ are always good too!)

6) By your office making this ‘call-ahead’ phone call you know it will actually happen. (I’ve heard that techs can actually forget and/or blow things off! Yes, shocking isn’t it!)

NOTE #1: In my 1.4 million dollar company I had 4.5 employees on my office staff. Why did I keep such a high office worker ratio? One reason was to take as many tasks as possible off our front line technicians… including having to call their next job.

NOTE #2: Another benefit of the tech not calling ahead? This gave my office staff just one more excuse to chat with the client and build a relationship. (I wanted my customer’s main loyalty to be to my company and not to an individual tech.)

Let’s sum up this not-so-QuickTIP! Your goal is for the customer to always feel informed and in control. However, don’t forget that this information flow should begin long before your office’s “They Are On Their Way” phone call.  For example…

1. Do you e-mail your customer a “How to Get Ready for Your Carpet Cleaning” check list?  (You’ll never find a better excuse to request their e-mail address!)

2. Do you have a separate landing page on your web site explaining how to ‘prep your home’ for your cleaning or restoration services?

NOTE #3: Always pre-show your client photos of your team in action. (Both with a photo album and/or tablet plus on your website.) Remember that helping a prospect ‘pre-visualize’ your cleaning process will sway them toward your company.

Now… don’t you have some “Your crew is on their way…” calls to make?

Steve

2 thoughts on “Reassure your clients with a ‘call-ahead’!”

  1. Just a pointer and maybe some verbiage changing. Where you said “a potential unprofessional phone call from a tech” is where my concern is. If your techs are unprofessional maybe then shouldn’t be working for xyz cleaning company. Other than that I agree.

    Matthew Strader

  2. I understand your point, Matt. However, remember that tech’s are hired for their face-to-face customer service skills. (And their physical prowess in cranking out clean carpets!) So their phone skills may not be up to your standards which is fine.

    Plus don’t forget technicians would likely be calling while driving in busy traffic and/or while already running late all of which could produce a stressed phone call. Therefore our suggestion to if possible let the office do what the office does best- call from a calm, professional environment.

    Thanks for holding my feet to the fire. I should have been more clear!

    Steve

    PS My mantra in my busy multi-truck company was to take as much pressure as possible off of my front line people. As one of my mentors said many years ago, “If you are not serving the customer then you better be serving someone who is.” ANYTHING I could switch off of the shoulders of my techs to the office was a done deal as I wanted my techs to focus on only two things- maximum production AND making Cheerleaders!

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